Daily News

Survey: Business majors in demand

May 02 2013

Business and technical majors are the most sought-after graduates, according to a new survey by CareerBuilder. Advertising topped the list of industries with the largest year-over-year growth for entry-level jobs.

“More than half of employers reported they plan to hire recent college graduates this year,” said CareerBuilder CEO Matt Ferguson. “College students who are graduating in business, technology and health-related majors will have an advantage in terms of the volume of opportunities available today. However, other majors such as liberal arts and sciences are also attractive to employers as they look for individuals with strong communications and critical-thinking skills.”

The survey asked companies which college majors were most in demand at their firms.

In-demand college majors:

Business: 31 percent

Computer and information sciences: 24 percent

Engineering: 17 percent

Health professions and related clinical sciences: 10 percent

Engineering technologies: 9 percent

Math and statistics: 9 percent

Communications technologies: 7 percent

Education: 7 percent

Science technologies: 6 percent

Liberal arts and sciences, general studies and humanities: 6 percent

Industries with the largest year-over-year growth for entry-level jobs (with at least 1,000 active jobs in March) include:

Advertising: 55 percent

Computer software: 37 percent

Accounting and finance: 36 percent

Hospitality: 36 percent

Automotive-motor vehicles: 25 percent

Sales and marketing: 21 percent

Training: 21 percent

Not for profit-charitable: 17 percent

Retail: 16 percent

Healthcare – health services: 16 percent

The study was conducted online by Harris Interactive on behalf of CareerBuilder among 2,184 hiring managers and human resource professionals nationwide. It was conducted between Feb. 11 and March 6.

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